Family’s gold coins in Oct. 26 auction

Wasserman Family Collection for sale in Zurich

A unique 1509-dated gold schauguldiner was struck in 1517 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in Antwerp using dies for previous coinage. All images courtesy of www.kuenker.de.

An undated, circa 1824, gold 18-ducat medallion celebrates the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Maximilian I Joseph. All images courtesy of www.kuenker.de.

A collection of several hundred gold coins
taken from Germany by refugees fleeing the Holocaust is being sold in
an Oct. 26 auction.

The sale of the Charles F. Wasserman
Collection of rare gold coins is being conducted by Fritz-Rudolf
Künker in association with Hess-Divo in Zürich.

The coins were secretly removed from the
country by some undisclosed means in 1938 by a Jewish family fleeing
the imminent Holocaust, at a time when laws forbade owners to emigrate
with such wealth.

The collection had been built by Dr. Felix
Wassermann, a physician living in Munich who foresaw turmoil under
Nazi rule and desired to protect his wealth by acquiring gold coins.
The motive for the collection “was far less numismatic than it was
wealth-protective,” according to Arthur L. Friedberg, who cataloged
the collection. “Instead of common gold coins, he amassed at what was
a relatively modest cost relative to their value today, some coins and
medals of remarkable quality, rarity, and beauty.”

How it was built

Dr. Wassermann obtained nearly 400 coins,
ancient to modern, from around the world, with a special emphasis on
coins of Bavaria and Munich, where the family was rooted. In building
the collection over six years, mostly from 1931 to 1934, Dr.
Wassermann relied on the assistance of many among a “who’s who” of
dealers in German numismatics at the time, and sales provenances are
recorded for nearly every piece.

The family — father, Felix; mother, Susan;
son, Charles; and daughter, Eva — came to New York City in 1938,
greeted by their sponsor Edith Rosenwald Stern, a distant cousin and
heir to a Sears, Roebuck & Co. owner.

In 1940, Charles F. Wasserman (he dropped an
“n” from his last name) graduated from high school and then attended
Tulane University in New Orleans, where, in a scene straight out of
Hollywood, he met fellow German émigré Eve Daube at a July 4 picnic.
Daube had been in a concentration camp before being sponsored to the
United States.

In 1945, the couple married and would later
have two sons, Gerald and Michael. Charles Wasserman became a
well-known pediatrician in New Orleans, and though he did not consider
himself a traditional “collector,” he valued the collection as a
symbol of his family’s history and heritage. He added a small number
of pieces to it, the final known purchases occurring in the 1970s.

Wasserman died in March 2012 and is survived
by both sons.

Collection highlights

The collection is peppered with highlights,
choice items that would anchor any collection, but the Bavarian
section is notable for some “formidable and impressive large
medallions,” according to Friedberg.

The chief Bavarian highlight is the undated
(circa 1824) gold 18-ducat medallion celebrating the 25th anniversary
of the coronation of Maximilian I Joseph. The hefty piece — weighing
62.63 grams — measures 47.8 millimeters in diameter. It has a Proof
finish with matte fields and is struck in high relief. The coin has an
estimate of 10,000 Swiss francs (about $10,647 in U.S. funds).

The collection reflects the vast coinage of
the Holy Roman Empire, including a unique gold schauguldiner
presentation piece dated 1509 and struck in Antwerp in 1517 by
Maximilian I. The coin was struck after the king requested the use of
older dies from the Hall Mint to strike pennies; a small rosette was
added to distinguish the restrikes from the earlier issues.
Presentation pieces like the coin in the Wasserman Collection were
also struck.

In “attractive” Very Fine condition, with
sharp details, it has an estimate of 20,000 francs (about $21,292 U.S.).

Though the auction offers only 10 coins from
Great Britain from the collection, one of them is what many consider
the most beautiful of all British coins, Queen Victoria’s 1839 Una and
the Lion £5 coin.

Designed by William Wyon, the coin shows the
young queen, representing truth (Una), leading the nation (the lion)
into what would become one of the greatest eras of British history.

The coin has a few rim nicks on the reverse
and a few hairlines, but is otherwise Proof Choice Uncirculated. It
has an estimate of 25,000 francs (about $26,616 U.S.).

The auction catalog is scheduled to be posted
online starting Sept. 17 at www.sixbid.com. To bid live,
collectors must register before the sale at www.hessdivo.com. Printed catalogs
may be ordered from Hess Divo at (011) 41 44 225 40 90 or via email to
mailbox@hessdivo.com, or
from Künker at (011) 49 541 962020 or via email at service@kuenker.de.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.